The present disclosure relates to a procedure for the detection of hidden mold damage in interior spaces. The present disclosure furthermore relates to a hand-held measuring instrument for carrying out the detection procedure.
Mold attack in interior spaces and mold damage resulting therefrom occur even in new buildings and can be connected with health consequences going back to mold spores. To test interior spaces for mold attack, various detection methods are used. Thus mold spores can be collected from the indoor air or dust collections by filtration or impaction and subsequently cultured, for example, for 7 days in the laboratory, after which detection takes place with the aid of the culture. However, even in the case of obvious fungal attack a large quantity of spores must be collected and cultured for several days. Likewise, microscopic investigations can be carried out on particle collections, unculturable spores also being detected. Besides these classical laboratory tests, “do-it-yourself” quick tests are known. Devices and procedures for the investigation of mold attack are known in the prior art. A hand-held measuring instrument and a procedure for the detection of hidden mold damage in interior spaces is known, for example, from the document DE 10 2010 064 251 A1.
As before, however, the sample preparation is an important part of the overall analysis process of a real sample, in particular if only small amounts of an analyte can be determined in the air.